Home for the Holidays
by smaragdbird
Summary: Bobby invites John to spend Thanksgiving with him and his family in Boston. Slash


'Bobby?'

'Hi Mom.' Bobby said cheerfully over the phone when in truth he felt dreadful: so short before Thanksgiving a call from his mother could only mean an invitation home. He was one of the few kids that still had a home they could go to over the holidays and he hated it. From what Jubilee, John and Kitty had told him Thanksgiving in the mansion was better than Christmas.

'I wanted to know when you plan to come home.'

'Uhm, how about Tuesday before?'

'You could come on Saturday.'

'Oh, but you know I have this…project I need to finish over the holidays.' Bobby lied. John snickered behind him at the sad attempt.

'You can work on it at home.' His mother suggested helpfully.

'It's, ah, a joint project and my partner stays here.' Bobby threw his pillow at John, who used it to smoother his laughter.

'Oh, well' his mother finally gave in: 'by the way, Bobby, how about you bring someone with you this year. This special person you talk about so much.'

'I, uh, sure, I'll ask them.'

'I'll see you then, Bobby.'

'Bye, Mom.'

'Did you just agree to go home over the holidays?' John asked, his expression somewhere between incredulous and hurt.

'I had no choice!' Bobby tried to protest.

'But we had plans!'

'We had?' That was news to Bobby.

'Yes: you, me, a free week and a bed? I was planning on a week of non-stop sex and not forced celibacy because of your family.'

'You could come with me.' Bobby suggested: 'My mother even suggested that I could bring someone with me.'

'I'm pretty sure your mother meant a nice, proper girlfriend and not your mutant boyfriend.'

'She said 'the special person I was talking about' which means you.'

'I'm not meeting-the-parents-material.' John whined.

'But we can have sex if you come with me.' Bobby tried to persuade him.

'Sex? In your parents' house? Who are you and what have you done with Bobby Drake?'

''Haha.' Bobby rolled his eyes: 'This is your choice Johnny: a week of celibacy or at least occasional sex in my parents' house.'

'Oh, I don't know I could make out with Piotr while you're away. Or maybe Remy.'

'My room has an en-suite bathroom with a big shower.' Bobby tried not to glare at the mentioning of Remy.

'You're evil.' John grinned: 'I like it.'

Remy LeBeau, occasional guest of the mansion, was universally hated by Rogue and Bobby. Every time he came for a visit he instantly captured Logan's and John's whole attention until he decided to leave again. Rogue had once compared it to the new girlfriend meeting her boyfriend's female best friend that he had had a relationship with until they had decided that they were better of as friends.

At the moment Logan, Remy and John sat near the windows, laughing and sharing stories while Bobby and Rogue shot them dark glares over their homework.

'Did John ever tell you what happened between them?' Rogue asked, but Bobby had to shake his head:

'When I asked him John simply said: 'He's Remy'.'

'Logan didn't want to say anything either beside: 'That's past.'

'More like five minutes ago.' Bobby muttered darkly when Remy touched both Logan and John.

'They probably have threesomes when we aren't looking.' Rogue agreed, looking ready to touch Remy extensively with her bare skin if he didn't remove his hand from Logan's arm in the immediate future:

'At least you'll be gone tomorrow.' Rogue gave him an utterly jealous glance: 'I've heard from Storm that he's going to stay the whole week.'

On the other side of the room, Remy leaned close to John to whisper something in his ear. Bobby suddenly regretted deeply not going to home on Saturday already.

Being 'responsible adults' Logan and Remy had offered to drive Bobby and John to the bus station, which in itself was bad enough, only made worse by the fact that as soon as the bus began to move, John was on his cell talking to Remy. Bobby was sorely tempted to freeze the damn thing and then shove it somewhere where the sun didn't shine, on the other hand he didn't want to fight with John before they even left New York.

'Bobby!' Mrs. Drake clasped her eldest son in her arms.

'Mom.' Bobby sounded embarrassed and John had problems to hide his snicker.

Oh, and you are…' She had let go of her son and spotted John.

'John Allerdyce, Bobby's…roommate.' John said with a longer pause than was really necessary.

'We're a bit surprised.' Mrs. Drake explained: 'We thought Bobby would bring his girlfriend.'

'Since when do you have a girl-friend?' John's eyebrows rose and Bobby blushed.

'He doesn't?' Mrs. Drake looked slightly confused.

'John.' Bobby said sharply enough for John to catch it and the desperate pleading overtone, too. Both seemed to be missed by Bobby's mother, though.

'Oh, right, I know. There is someone, but you know Bobby, he is very shy about the whole thing.' John adopted a conspiratorial tone.

'That doesn't sound like Bobby at all.' Mrs. Drake laughed.

'Can I show John where he sleeps?' Bobby interrupted before this could go out of hand.

'You'll need to get the cot from the attic.' She turned to John: 'When we thought that Bobby's girlfriend would come with him, we thought of course that they would sleep in one bed.'

Bobby stayed long enough to see that John's eyebrows nearly managed to hit his hairline and that he bit his lip hard to avoid laughing.

Once they had brought the cot from the attic into Bobby's room and closed the door behind them after Bobby had assured his mother that yes, they had had breakfast at school and no, they weren't hungry yet, John burst out laughing.

'Nice to see you find this so amusing.' Bobby hadn't quite forgiven him for the hour-long conversation with Remy during the bus tour. Still grinning, John sat down next to Bobby and laid his upper body onto the bed, looking up to Bobby:

'Admit it; it's hilarious that your mother thinks you're not a virgin anymore.'

'I'm not a virgin.' Bobby reminded him a bit testily.

'I know that you're not.' John assured him with a lecherous grin: 'But that your mother assumed it just because you mentioned 'someone' who interests you a few times on the phone…I thought you were going to die of embarrassment on your parents' doorstep.'

'As if you weren't embarrassed if your mother assumed you were having orgies at school.' Bobby replied sarcastically.

'Orgies, huh?' John sat up and then moved so that he straddled Bobby's lap: 'Tell me about these orgies.'

'Like the ones you, Logan and Remy have every time Remy visits?'

'You're jealous.' John sounded actually surprised: 'Come on, Bobby, stop the pouting. It only looks good on me not on you.'

He tried to kiss Bobby.

'Not now, John.' Bobby hissed.

'But you promised me sex!' John protested: 'Lots and lots f sex.'

'Brilliant idea. Any moment my father and my brother could come back from shopping or my other relatives could arrive and my mother would come up here and find me making out with my 'roommate.'

'You're no fun.' John groused: 'I should have stayed at the mansion.'

'With Remy, you mean.' Bobby knew that he sounded bitchy but god, he hated Remy.

John sighed and pressed a kiss to Bobby's lips before he stood up.

'Come on, ice-cube. Let me charm your family before they get to know that I fuck your freezing ass through the mattress seven times a week.'

These moments when a person you think you know shows a totally new and different side you'd never expected they had? If that happens you're in for the shock of your life. Bobby stared open-mouthly for the rest of the day while John, cocky, brash, rebellious John was utterly polite and charming to his parents, to his newly arrived uncle Francis, aunt Beatrice and their son Joel, except of course for the innuendos about Bobby's sexuality and genetic make-up that his relatives probably dismissed as inside jokes between two friends but made Bobby uncomfortable.

'I was surprised you managed to close your mouth today.' John snickered. They lay side by side on Bobby's bed with John on his back and Bobby curled around him, using John's shoulder as a pillow.

'I'm glad to see you had your fun.' But the words were said without venom, today had improved Bobby's mood by far since John was here, with him, and made nice with his family while Remy was at a safe distance.

'So, any more family members that I have to charm tomorrow?' John asked, stroking with his fingers through Bobby's short hair.

'Just my aunt Anne and my cousin Mary, but they're usually only coming for Thanksgiving itself and my older sister Aurora has her own family to take care of for the holidays.'

'You never told me you had a sister.' Bobby could have answered that John had never uttered a single syllable about his family either but he felt too warm and comfortable to ask after something that John obviously didn't want to talk about, so instead he said:

'She's my half-sister. Dad's high-school love is her mother. They didn't stay together.'

'Well, who stays with their high-school-sweetheart?'

'Kitty says that her parents were high-school sweethearts.'

'Kitty also claims to have an interest in art when she couldn't tell the difference between Picasso and Monet if her life depended on it and only to get Piotr to notice her.' John had stopped stroking Bobby's hair and his warm hand rested now in the nape of Bobby's neck.

'Night, Bobby.'

'Night, John.'

The next day was filled with John dragging Bobby from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum to the Museum of Fine Arts, arguing that this was probably the only time he was ever going to be in Boston and since Bobby didn't want to have sex with him because his parents were home; he should make the most of it.

Bobby wasn't exactly a fan of art neither of the antique nor of the contemporary kind but it was hard to resist against John's enthusiasm. Also, it was unlikely that they would run into someone who knew Bobby so he felt secure enough to hold John's hand while John admired paintings and sculptures from the Antique to 21st century.

'Bobby?'

'Judy?'

There was an awkward pause until both said at the same time:

'Hi.'

'I haven't seen you for a long time.' Judy said: 'you were just gone from one day to the other.'

'Yeah, uhm, this is John. John this is-'

'Judy, Bobby's ex-girlfriend.'

'He never mentioned you.' John said with a malicious smile that became even wider when Judy looked vaguely hurt.

'Nice to see you, Bobby.'

'You, too.'

'And you have the nerve to be jealous over Remy.' John said as soon as Judy was out of earshot: 'That girl looks like a model.'

'She changed a lot in the last two years. I nearly wouldn't have recognized her.' Bobby said thoughtfully.

'Hey, Drake!' John snapped his fingers in front of Bobby's face: 'I swear if you dumb me for your ex-girlfriend while we're here I'm going to set your parents' front lawn on fire.'

'I won't dumb you and certainly not for Judy.' Bobby said in a voice as if the very thought was ridiculous. John snorted but didn't answer.

'So, your aunt and your cousin come tomorrow?' John asked the next morning. They had actually had sex, the kind were you giggled a lot because you reminded each other all the time that you had to stay quiet: 'No uncle? Are there divorces in the perfect Drake family picture?'

'My uncle Robert is dead. I was named after him.'

'You were named after your prematurely deceased uncle? Good luck, Bobby, you'll need it.'

'I bet the saint you were named after was horribly tortured to death.' Bobby muttered.

'No, actually I was named after a famous Australian writer.'

'Not that author of those dreadful novels that you hide under your bed?' Bobby laughed at the face John made: 'Seriously, you were _named_ after a Gothic Romance writer who was gay and died f Aids? I thought you had those books because he was _your_ uncle or something.'

'St. John Allerdyce was a great novelist in the tradition of Ann Radcliffe and Edgar Allen Poe.' John defended his idol haughtily: 'What were you looking for under my bed anyway?'

'Searching for the shirt I borrowed you.' Bobby yawned and rubbed his face against John's naked chest.

'You do know that you can't just fall asleep after morning sex, right? And that your mum could barrel in here any minute.'

'She can't. I locked the door.'

As if on cue John's cell began to ring. Bobby groaned in protest but John merely shot him an exasperated look before he answered it. Three seconds later John's face lit up as if someone had just told him how to create fire:

'Remy!' And Bobby's mood dropped off the edge into an endless abyss. He grabbed his trousers and a jumper and unlocked the door while pointedly ignoring John laughing on the phone. He showered, dressed and went downstairs just in time to be greet his newly arrived aunt Anne and his cousin Mary.

'Bobby!' Mary hugged him tightly: 'Where's your girlfriend? Your mother said that you would bring her with you to meet the family.'

'That's what I thought.' His mother explained: 'But Bobby only brought his roommate.'

'Only your roommate?' John sauntered downstairs, dressed in an indecently tight, black shirt that Bobby hadn't known he owned: 'I thought I would at least warrant a 'BFF', if not more.'

'More?' Mary asked interested although it wasn't clear if she was interested in the answer or in John himself. Hell, Bobby had a hard time reigning his more primal urges and that while he was still battling his jealousy.

'Lab partners, partners in crime, partners in general.' He threw Bobby a smoldering look that was as inappropriate for a family thanksgiving as John's shirt but Bobby still hadn't wrapped his mind around John's shirt that clung to all the right places and made him look like he had just jumped from the pages of the 'Stylish Supervillains' section of the GQ.

'Partners in crime, huh?' Mary's tone showed that she was intrigued: 'I think you have corrupted my cousin….'

'John. And I didn't corrupt anything that Bobby wasn't fully amiable to have corrupted.'

'You have been Bobby's roommate for a while, then?' Anne asked.

'We came to the school around the same time.'

'Anne, Mary.' Bobby's father had turned up from hiding in the cellar, Bobby suspected. Thanksgiving and Christmas usually turned his oh so advanced and emancipated mum into a Stepford Wife and everyone avoided the kitchen and living room as far as possible.

'I see you've aöready met Bobby's roommate John.' He looked faintly disapproving when John#s cell rang again. John apologized and then went outsode to answer the call.

'Does your 'partner' have a girlfriend?' Mary asked while she linked her arm with Bobby's, but before he could answer her question they could both hear a clear:

'Shut up, Remy.' From John.

'Or a boyfriend?' Mary amended her question.

'He never mentioned either one.' Bobby replied as vague as possible. He was a horrible liar and Mary knew that but he figured that as long as he wasn't lying he should be safe.

They entered the living room where the dining table was already set and covered with the food his mum had cooked up.

'And why didn't your girlfriend come with you? Your mother was so sure that she would.'

'Mum was under the wrong impression. There I no girlfriend.'

'It' not my fault.' Bobby's mother defended herself: 'You kept talking about this special person you've met in school.'

'There are a lot of special persons in school. I wasn't talking about someone specifically.' See, Bobby wasn't lying. Not at all.

John came in, looking a bit distracted, and sat down opposite of Bobby.

'I'm sorry Mrs. Drake.' He said.

'Don't worry about it. A call from your family?' John shook his head:

'A close friend. He's an alumni of our school and was surprised that I wasn't there for the vacations.'

'Where are you from?' Asked Bobby's uncle Francis. As a guest John was of course the object of general curiousness from his relatives. Although Bobby as curious too. John never talked about anything that could allude to his life before he came to the mansion.

'I'm from Ipswich.' John replied, then added: 'Ipswich, Australia.'

'But you go to an American School?' Mary asked doubtfully.

'Bobby and I share a room with a Russian and a French-Canadian. We're handpicked from all over the world.' Which was true but Bobby still doubted that John came from Australia or maybe he did. John spoke an English that jumped through different accents on random so he could have come from any corner of the world.

Mr. Drake interrupted the conversation when he carried the turkey inside and sat down next to his wife. The only one missing was Bobby's brother Ronnie but he had called to say that he would spend Thanksgiving with his girlfriend.

Mrs. Drake and everyone folded their hands except for Bobby who was still distracted by John's shirt until he felt a foot against his under the table and heard John snicker slightly. Blushing, he immediately looked up to meet his mother's frowning glance.

'We usually say something that we're thankful for.' Mrs. Drake explained to John. Mr. Drake was glad to have his family here, Mrs. Drake was thankful for her job and so on. Bobby said something vague about good friends and his ten-year-old cousin Joel was thankful for the video game console he got for his birthday a few weeks ago.

When it was John's turn he looked directly at Bobby and said in a deliberately ambiguous voice:

'I'm thankful for my roommate Bobby who has talented hands and a clever mouth,' Bobby swore that John's eyes grew darker with every word and the images his words planted in Bobby's mind where not family friendly at all, so Bobby kicked John under the table before he could make Bobby do something embarrassing: – especially when I'm late with my homework, even though he's a very honest person particularly about what he can do and what he likes to do.'

'Thanks, Johnny.' Bobby said and kicked him again although John didn't even bat a lash when Bobby's foot hit his shin.

It was pretty much like Thanksgiving in the mansion, the same food, and the same rituals. John either flirted with Mary or answered the questions from Bobby's family about his family, his background and his career aspirations. Bobby listened carefully because he was irritated that John disclosed this much personal imformation voluntarily when in the mansion he avoided these questions with a grace that spoke of long practice. Also, Bobby wondered what the last phone call from Remy had been about. John had sounded genuinely annoyed with Remy and normally Remy's presence made John visibly walk on air which was part of the reason why Bobby couldn't stand him. The other reason was Remy's absurd attractiveness, which had to be a mutation itself.

'What about your other roommates?' Mary asked: 'Bobby never mentioned anyone.'

'They're older than us, already adults.'

'I always thought that geniuses graduate early.'

'Lots of us stay in the school even after graduation. We're a pretty tight bunch, we special people.'

'So you can count to the 300 decimal of Pi and such stuff?' Mary mocked him.

'Let's say each of us has their own unique set of skills, diverse. Bobby here for example is pretty good with sculpting, ice sculpting in particular.'

'Ice sculpting?' Mary laughed and looked at Bobby: 'You're weird.' She decieded.

'Thanks.' Bobby answered ironically but shot John a dark glare.

'And what's your 'unique skill'?' Mary asked John flirtatiously and cupped her chin in her hand. Bobby felt a sharp spike of jealousy and when his eyes met John's knowing ones he looked away.

'Oh, I have more than one skill.' John turned slightly towards her: 'But it's the usual set of skills that are needed to get a Pulitzer Prize. Now what I really love are fireworks.'

On the opposite side of the table Bobby stifled a groan because that was John's usual pick-up line with someone he flirted with.

Two hours later after all of Bobby's relatives were gone, John fell backwards on Bobby's bed and beckoned him closer with a gesture. That was such an John-like thing to do: no matter whether Bobby was there or not he always slept in Bobby's bed but nearly never in his own. Their roommates had mocked them mercilessly for it but John had ignored their comments like he ignored pretty much everything that he didn't deem worthy of his attention.

'You do realize that I just lied to your family for-' John tilted his head to read the time from the clock on Bobby's desk: 'four hours straight?'

'You lied? All of it?' Bobby wasn't terribly surprised but he found it hard to belive that even John could make up the story of a lifetime in the matter of seconds and put it flawlessly together with his previous lies.

'Yup, all of it, every detail. My name is not St. John Allerdyce either.'

'Ha ha :' Bobby replied sarcastically and sat down onto the bed next to John's waist. With John's arms crossed under his head his shirt had ridden up and exposed the skin on John's stomach.

'I like your shirt.' Bobby murmured while caressing the bare skin.

'I like it too.' John grinned: 'Remy picked it out for me.' Bobby scowled and shot back:

'You have food in your teeth.' Without stopping his finger's exploration of John's stomach.

'Do I?' John sat up and grabbed Bobby's hands to slide them around his waist until Bobby locked his hands in the small of John's back. John let his arms fall around Bobby's shoulders:

'Then you'll have to get that out, won't you?' He asked and leaned over the distance between them to kiss Bobby.

When they arrived at the mansion the next afternoon the front doors opened and a dark haired man shot out and crushed John in an embrace. To Bobby's dismay the man looked even more handsome than Remy and really, where did John find these guys?

'Hi.' The man said and extended his hand while his other arm was still around John's waist who leaned into the stranger as if it was totally normal for him to do this.

'I'm Dominikos Ioannis Petrakis or Avalanche, but most people call me Dom or Nick or Lance.'

'I'm Bobby Drake, Iceman.'

'John told me everything about you.'

'Oh, really?' Secretly Bobby was already making plans to lure John away to Boston for Christmas. Far, far away from people from John's past.

Bobby (American)

Madeline Beatrice(mother)

William Robert(father)

Ronnie(Brother)

Joel(Cousin)

Mary(Cousin)

Anne(aunt)

Francis(uncle)

Aurora Dante(Half-sister)

Judy Harmon(ex-girlfriend)

John (Sydney Australian)/(British)

Journalist

Writer of Gothic romances

Grandmother

Dominikos Ioannis Petrakis/Avalanche


End file.
